However unethical we might have thought things were behind the scenes of TLC's series about the Duggar family, it seems like they were so much worse. Jill Duggar has revealed that Jim Bob took all the money the family made from filming and then tried to avoid paying it out to her, even though she'd earned it.
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Things really began to sour for Jill around the time her first child was born.
According to what she says in the new Amazon Prime Video docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, Jim Bob tricked Jill into signing a contract on the morning of her wedding that locked her in for five more years of filming the TV show.
Then, when the time came for her to deliver her oldest son, Israel, TLC insisted on filming. Though Jill was against it, she negotiated a deal that would pay for her out-of-pocket delivery expenses in exchange for filming video diaries from her birth … but TLC sent the money to Jim Bob instead of sending it to Jill directly, and he wasn't letting go of it that easily.
Jill says she 'never received any payout' for filming '19 Kids & Counting' or 'Counting On.'
"No check, no cash, no nothing. For seven-and-a-half years of my adult life, I was never paid. We were taken advantage of," Jill said.
When Jill and Derick were later asked to come back to Arkansas from where they were working as missionaries in El Salvador, they finally put their foot down.
"If we're giving up something then we should get something in return," Derick said. "Jim Bob was like, 'What do you want? $10 an hour?' And I was like, 'I don't know, what's it worth?' And he was like, 'What's your price?' He was like, 'I can pay you $10 an hour.' That's when we asked to talk to TLC."
Jim Bob offered his adult children a lump sum payout, but there was a catch.
"In order to receive that, you had to sign another deal with my dad and his production company, Mad Family Inc., which would last like forever. We were automatically like, we're done," Jill said.
That is when they walked away from the show for good, but the drama didn't end there.
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This led to Derick getting an anonymous threatening text message.
"Jim Bob or Michelle have never done you wrong nor Jill. You are returning evil for the unbelievable privilege of marrying their most beautiful and intelligent daughter, who is the fruit of their lives," one of the messages read, according to the Daily Mail. It added, "The mistreatment of parents is forbidden in both the Old and New Testament, with death penalties ascribed to those violations and wrong actions to parents. And the reverse promise, that things will not go well for you."
The producers asked Derick if he believed Jim Bob sent that text, to which he responded, "I don't know. I can't speculate."
Jill and Derick have a lot to share.
It's not just limited to the upcoming docuseries, which begins streaming June 2. Jill and Derick also revealed that they're publishing a book called Counting the Cost, which promises to expose the "lack of respect for boundaries, greed, manipulation, and betrayal" they suffered at the hands of Jill's family.
We're ready!
